Cursed Silicon

Thanks to CrossTalkIM open sourcing their services (and @bredo helping me beat the software into working)

#CGHMN now has an MSN Messenger server in addition to the existing AIM server!

I was never much of an AIM user. MSN was way more popular in places like Australia so I'm absolutely over the moon to finally have this piece of IM software history running on the retro network

Jun 16 at 7:39amWeb
Show threadKrutonium://Jun 16
@CursedSilicon @bredo honestly I think the only person I ever saw intentionally using AIM was a police officer showing my class the pedophiles he was chatting with
Show threadCursed SiliconJun 16
@krutonium @bredo AIUI it was much more popular in the US because you could use it via text messages on cell phones
Show threadKrutonium://Jun 16
@CursedSilicon @bredo You ever say something and then go "wait, that can't be a normal experience..."
Show threadmr_harmJun 16
@CursedSilicon @bredo in my area it was ICQ everywhere
Show threadbig ole spiderboxJun 16
@CursedSilicon I remember the AIM MSN ICQ regionality being town to town. It was just one element of flavor of a place, "Welcome to Shelbyville where the squirrels are RED and we chat using MSN MESSENGER."
Show threadCursed SiliconJun 16
@humulus So I tied an ICQ to my belt. Which was the style at the time!
Show threadKarpourJun 16
@CursedSilicon @bredo which protocol versions does this support for MSN?
Show threadCursed SiliconJun 16

@karpour @bredo Protocol *versions* is tricky (because there's like 25 of them)

This is a good rough compatibility matrix

Show threadKarpourJun 16
@CursedSilicon @bredo awesome, gotta see is I can Windows CE MSN on there :)
Show threadCursed SiliconJun 16
@karpour @bredo I wanna throw as many "weird clients" at it as possible because it seems to be very "we tested Windows and nothing else"
Show threadWillard GooseyJun 16

@CursedSilicon
@armbytes

Hey !grapevine msn and aim clients should be able to talk to this right?

#RISCOS

Show threadCursed SiliconJun 16

@goosey @armbytes Yes and no!

CrossTalk currently only supports MSN Messenger, AIM runs via Open OSCAR Server (provided by @chivanet )

You also need to be on CGHMN for MSN (Chivanet's AIM OOS is public)

As for what clients work it's a mixed bag. The Microsoft Windows clients seem to be the only ones that were tested and supported (even the Mac clients mostly don't work)

The software is *very in alpha* so there's a lot of work to do, still

Show threadWillard GooseyJun 16

@CursedSilicon @armbytes @chivanet

After a quick peak down this rabbit hole it looks like aim via chivanet (based in New Mexico!) is pretty easy, no data on !grapevine working with it.

#RISCOS

Show threadCursed SiliconJun 16
@goosey @armbytes @chivanet Unclear on what "!grapevine" is
Show threadWillard GooseyJun 16

@CursedSilicon @armbytes @chivanet

Commercial app for RISC OS that does irc, aim, and msn messaging.

The irc part still works!

Show threadCursed SiliconJun 16

@goosey @armbytes @chivanet Interesting!

I don't have a RISC machine to test with so I can't say if it would work or not.

If there's an emulator for it I can run and Wireshark it I can submit packet dumps for including support if needed

Show threadPiperJun 17
@CursedSilicon @goosey @armbytes @chivanet RISC OS can run on Raspberry Pis IIRC, in case you have one of those
Show threadWillard GooseyJun 17

@pmc @CursedSilicon @armbytes @chivanet

Yup! Pi 400 or older.

Or, the standard emulator seems to be rpcemu at:
https://www.marutan.net/rpcemu/index.php

RPCEmu

Show threadCursed SiliconJun 17

@goosey @pmc @armbytes @chivanet I grabbed the RPCEmu "Easy Start" bundle

Unfortunately I've then hit a wall

Grapevine is $40 USD (30 British pounds) commercial software

Is there an archived copy anywhere? Since MSN itself is effectively dead

Show threadWillard GooseyJun 17

@CursedSilicon @pmc @armbytes @chivanet

!store (plingstore) is available under both 3.71 and 5.27 versions and has grapevine 2 for £7.50

I don't see a way to do a gift purchase in plingstore but I can paypal you the $15.

Show threadCursed SiliconJun 17

@goosey @pmc @armbytes @chivanet I can't actually get the *networking* to work on RPCEmu.

I might shelve it for a bit until I dig out a Ras Pi

Show threadWillard GooseyJun 18

@CursedSilicon @pmc @armbytes @chivanet

A lot of support for rpcemu is at:
https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums/10

RISC OS Open: RPCEmu

Show threadCursed SiliconJun 18

@goosey @pmc @armbytes @chivanet I shot the author of the MSN client an email asking if I could have a copy for preservation efforts

I've still gotta find a PI for RiscOS-ing though